iPhone 3GS jailbreak and unlock loophole discovered

Owners of the new iPhone 3GS will soon be able to jailbreak and unlock their smartphone, thanks to a five-month-old security flaw in the handset’s baseband. The iPhone Dev Team have verified that Apple have not addressed an exploit known as 24Kpwn that was originally identified in the iPod touch 2G; with it, they will be able to upgrade their ultrasn0w tool to work on the iPhone 3GS.

The loophole arose, the Team believe, because Apple finalized the iPhone 3GS’ bootrom in around August 2008, months before the exploit was identified for the iPod touch 2G. 24Kpwn went on to be exploited in the redsn0w tool, and similar techniques can now be implemented in ultrasn0w.

It will take some time to update ultrasn0w with the new system, but once completed it will mean the iPhone 3GS can not only be loaded with unofficial apps but used with any SIM card. Apple are likely to release a firmware update to try to prevent any damage, so the Dev Team are advising that people avoid baseband updates.